400k audax

[Jerry Atrik]

Tempted !

 

[Rustybucket]

Tempted !

Do it!

 

[jefmcg]

need to book a travelodge or similar.

In 2015 I stayed at http://www.tilehouselodge.com/ which £40 including breakfast (the table was laid, so I could get myself cereal and toast and a coffee at 5.15 in the morning). I'm pretty sure they let me put my bike somewhere downstairs. I shared a bathroom, but as I arrived at 10 and left before 6, I never even heard another guest. The house could have been empty except for me and the cat.

You can also bring a mat and sleeping bag and sleep in the hall the night before the ride, which means you'd be equipped for a sleep at the end of the ride too.

Oops, you can't sleep the night before

 

[Rustybucket]

Is there anywhere near the start to park a car and leave whilst doing the ride?

 

[Dogtrousers]

Is there anywhere near the start to park a car and leave whilst doing the ride?

There's a list of facilities on the AUK website listing for the event. In true audax style these are presented as a list of incomprehensible abbreviations, so I don't know. One of them is a P, which may mean parking, or perhaps toilets.

Bear in mind that you will probably not be in a fit state (sleep deprived) to drive safely afterwards.

 

[Ian H]

There's a list of facilities on the AUK website listing for the event. In true audax style these are presented as a list of incomprehensible abbreviations, so I don't know. One of them is a P, which may mean parking, or perhaps toilets.

Just click the little '?' to see the full description.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Just click the little '?' to see the full description.

I tried that.

It says "F, G, L, NM, P, R, T" If I click the question mark it says "Toilets at start". FGLNMPRT seems a pretty long winded way to say "toilets".

To be fair, I think it's just a glitch for that ride. I picked a few others at random and they do seem to expand. So a bit of lateral thinking and codebreaking comparing with other rides makes me think that

F Some free food &/or drink provided on the ride
G GPS files available from organiser.
L Left luggage secure(ish) at the start
NM No Mudguards required
P Parking free or reasonably priced, at start
R Refreshments free or reasonably priced, at start and/or finish
T Toilets at start.

Edit. Found the key!! Key to Facilities

 

[Ian H]

I tried that.

I have tried a couple and they work. Perhaps the event you're looking at hasn't got spaces between the letters. It's organiser error (though understandable given the complexity of the back-end of the events system).

 

[Dogtrousers]

I have tried a couple and they work. Perhaps the event you're looking at hasn't got spaces between the letters. It's organiser error (though understandable given the complexity of the back-end of the events system).

Yes, this one has commas separating the codes. Only T is not followed by a comma and "T" works.

I'll drop the organiser an email.

 

[jefmcg]

Instructions from LWL 2015, which may be informative

Venue

Chalfont St Peter Community Centre, [..] Please note that you can not park at the Centre during the event so you will need to use the car park off Church Lane and take the path through to the community centre.

You will need to bring change to pay for parking.
The foyer to the centre gets very crowded at the start so please use your café locks to secure your bikes outside.

On Arrival

• Please do not bring bikes into the community centre at the start as it will be very crowded.
• The Community Centre will be open from around 5am. Free tea & coffee will be available, along with cereal, bread/toast & jam.
• If you are coming by bike and want to leave any bags behind, see me at the start, and I’ll can look after them during the day (at your own risk – if it looks valuable I’ll stick it on ebay). Don’t leave bags in the Community Centre – other groups will use it during the day.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Instructions from LWL 2015, which may be informative

Venue

Chalfont St Peter Community Centre, [..] Please note that you can not park at the Centre during the event so you will need to use the car park off Church Lane and take the path through to the community centre.

You will need to bring change to pay for parking.
The foyer to the centre gets very crowded at the start so please use your café locks to secure your bikes outside.

On Arrival

• Please do not bring bikes into the community centre at the start as it will be very crowded.
• The Community Centre will be open from around 5am. Free tea & coffee will be available, along with cereal, bread/toast & jam.
• If you are coming by bike and want to leave any bags behind, see me at the start, and I’ll can look after them during the day (at your own risk – if it looks valuable I’ll stick it on ebay). Don’t leave bags in the Community Centre – other groups will use it during the day.

Park in public car park about 400m from community centre. Cost is about £3.50 for 24 hours from memory. Bring a sleeping bag. Grab some sleep back at community centre after riding till event closes and kicked out.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Oh dear. I appear to have done something very stupid indeed, and very much against my own "keep it simple, keep it flat" advice.

I've just signed up for LWL.

I've just seen sense and withdrawn my entry. The org is running a waiting list so it's only fair to let someone else have plenty of prep time.

I've been feeling moderately wasted at the end of each of my centuries so far this year. The idea of another 240k on top of that followed by a long complicated journey home means it's a non-starter for me.

 

[Aravis]

I've just seen sense and withdrawn my entry. The org is running a waiting list so it's only fair to let someone else have plenty of prep time.

I've been feeling moderately wasted at the end of each of my centuries so far this year. The idea of another 240k on top of that followed by a long complicated journey home means it's a non-starter for me.

I'd been idly following this thread, but I missed this important bit of information. I was sorry to hear this - I hope things are improving.

Last year I intended to do a Godwin, but circumstances meant I couldn't get the continuity I needed in the early summer. I fell back on a long-standing intention to ride three 150s in a calendar year, which I'd never done before, and with this I was successful. So I felt good for having completed a worthy challenge, and the Godwin will keep for another time.

On the original question - to Audax or not to Audax - one reason why I wouldn't choose an Audax for a first 400km ride (or 250 miles in my book) is that I'd want to complete it within a calendar day, and a 6am start wouldn't allow that. That's very much a personal thing - I wouldn't necessarily expect anyone else to see the calendar day thing as important.

Do you have any other challenges in mind for this year? One I'd like to do sometime is back-to-back 150 milers, and the thought doesn't intimidate as much as a single 200-250 miler does. An advantage of a back-to-back challenge is that the first part doesn't commit you to the second, and it will have been worth doing in its own right. So something like that might be a better target if confidence is a bit low.

I hope some of this might be useful!

 

[smutchin]

An advantage of a back-to-back challenge is that the first part doesn't commit you to the second, and it will have been worth doing in its own right.

On the other hand, if there's an option to bail out, you're much more likely to bail out.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I'd been idly following this thread, but I missed this important bit of information. I was sorry to hear this - I hope things are improving.

Last year I intended to do a Godwin, but circumstances meant I couldn't get the continuity I needed in the early summer. I fell back on a long-standing intention to ride three 150s in a calendar year, which I'd never done before, and with this I was successful. So I felt good for having completed a worthy challenge, and the Godwin will keep for another time.

On the original question - to Audax or not to Audax - one reason why I wouldn't choose an Audax for a first 400km ride (or 250 miles in my book) is that I'd want to complete it within a calendar day, and a 6am start wouldn't allow that. That's very much a personal thing - I wouldn't necessarily expect anyone else to see the calendar day thing as important.

Do you have any other challenges in mind for this year? One I'd like to do sometime is back-to-back 150 milers, and the thought doesn't intimidate as much as a single 200-250 miler does. An advantage of a back-to-back challenge is that the first part doesn't commit you to the second, and it will have been worth doing in its own right. So something like that might be a better target if confidence is a bit low.

I hope some of this might be useful!

You can always do the Audax as a Perm and start at midnight if you want to complete in a calendar day.